Hester Biosciences plans large animal health product range

Ahmedabad based poultry vaccine maker Hester Biosciences is planning to launch its own range of large animal health product range soon. The company is expecting a turnover of Rs 10 crore for the first year from the animal health division and is eying a 20 per cent growth rate for the division.

The company is planning to launch its own large animal health product range through the newly acquired Innoves Animal Health marketing infrastructure. Hester had acquired Delhi based Innoves Animal Health Private Ltd in October for an undisclosed sum. It has entered into a business transfer agreement (BTA) with Innoves to acquire the products, brands and the marketing network and employees of the Delhi-based firm.

Major brands of Innoves includes Curx, Protin-C, Beta4vet, Hifcr. As of now, Hester has started manufacturing PPR, Goat Pox, Brucella, Abortus S-19 and Theilleria vaccines for large animals. The susceptible animal population for PPR is around 212 million, making it a market for Rs 80 crore, Hester said. It would also be the first company to commercially manufacture the Goat pox vaccine in India, for which the susceptible animal population is around 140 million, taking the potential market size to Rs 45 crore.

Meanwhile, the company posted a 14.81 per cent drop in its net profit for the second quarter of the financial year to Rs 2.3 crore down from Rs 2.7 crore in the corresponding year last fiscal, mainly on the back of increased input costs and employee expenditure. Net sales for the quarter has increased by 35 per cent to Rs 15.53 crore. Material costs during the quarter increased 45.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 3.5 crore, while employee costs increased by 40 per cent during the quarter to Rs 2.1 crore.

Net sales for the first half of the year increased by 27.6 per cent to Rs 29.37 crore, while net profit is down by 6 per cent to Rs 4.4 crore.